Comments on: Got My Beep Back, Baby!

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:11:57 +0000

well, you may laugh, but I tried my own little trick. I recorded the sound of pressing the “1″ key after I was done recording my announcement, in an effort to trick the system into thinking the caller pressed “1″. Didn’t work…but it sure would’ve been easier than this runaround!

By: Chris Allen

Chris Allen — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:52:37 +0000

@Yukio — Send me your e-mail address. I may have a case number that will get this resolved for you.

What we’re hearing now on a consistent basis is that there are two voicemail systems being used by AT&Tnow. If you’re on the old system, they can implement the change. If you’re on the new system, there’s nothing anybody at any level can do.

Why is it that “new & improved” is rarely both?

By: Yukio

Yukio — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:38:16 +0000

I too, have been humbly trying to get AT&T to switch off the lady. And having actually worked for AT&T in the past, I always talk to the CSRs with respect and patience. (By the way, I’d like to thank Chris for pointing out to his readers that sometimes lack of knowledge on the job isn’t always due to stupidity on the employee’s part, but often from the employer not properly educating their staff. AT&T changes policies, procedures, terminology and job titles SO often that it’s impossible to keep up) However, my results have been the same as so many others here. The reps don’t know where to direct me, and don’t know how to handle my request. Even when mentioning “voicemail team”, “engineering”, “caller prompt from full to none”…it doesn’t help. Every single person I’ve talked to has been more than gracious throughout it all but unfortunately when you call customer care you could be getting any one of thousands of reps across hundreds of call centers. Getting the one who has all the know how to handle your particular problem is kind of like hitting the slots.

Could someone give me any additional info that might help me take back my beep? Thanks.

By: Neeks

Neeks — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:16:38 +0000

So I followed the instructions, got transferred to the Tech Support department. Guy was super cool, I mentioned the blog and how I didn’t want to step on his toes but that it talked about making a case and that it may need a “higher level” of tech support. He was grateful because he hadn’t heard of the issue before and was stoked to learn about it as he was helping me with the process. Got the case made Friday, and today I got a text that it had been completed. Just called my VM and I got my beep back! Thanks guys for all the help!

By: Chris Allen

Chris Allen — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:21:22 +0000

@Polska — Send me your e-mail address. I may have a case number that will get this resolved for you.

By: Polska

Polska — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:10:04 +0000

I’m a product development engineer with technical knowledge and have owned both the original iPhone and iPhone 3G. I have finally decided I can’t hold out for the iPhone 5 (now likely to be released in October instead of the usual June time frame). I proactively called AT&T customer support this morning to find out if I would potentially lose my “straight to beep” feature during the upgrade. I also mentioned I would likely be downgrading my $30 unlimited data plan to the $25 2GB plan. The initial customer service rep didn’t know what I was talking about for the first 10-15 minutes. Even once she did, the conversation got nowhere and so I asked for technical support. I eventually got on the line with a woman in tech support who was just as clueless. I mentioned phrases like “full to none voicemail option” and “cut through paging” and was told she didn’t know how to do any of this. I mentioned that the “engineering team” should be able to enable or disable this voicemail option. I was put on hold again while she spoke to a supervisor. Ten minutes later I’m told there is a feature called “cut through paging.” Really? I just told her the same thing 10 minutes earlier. She proceeds to tell me that I may lose this feature when I switch to the 2GB data plan and that my original unlimited data plan utilizes a different voicemail system. She says to me several times, “you can just keep your unlimited plan to make sure you don’t lose the feature.” I reiterate to her I’ll just be throwing away an extra $5 every month like I have been. I genuinely felt like she wanted me to keep on paying a higher rate instead of actually trying to figure out how to ensure that I don’t lose this feature. I was persistent and was put on hold again while she spoke to another supervisor. When I got back on the line with her, I was told I can access my voicemail menu and enable/disable cut through paging. At this point she was rude and made it difficult for me to even find out how to access this menu from the iPhone. Hold down the number “1” I was finally told. Next, hit “4” for options and then “7” for cut through paging. I finally got off the phone after 59 minutes of vagueness and ill informed reps feeling like I’ll be taking a risk upgrading my phone.

So, I tried these voicemail options just now on my iPhone 3G. And guess what? The tech support specialist was wrong. First off, after hitting “4” for options you need to then dial “2” for administrative options. At that menu, there is no option “7” for cut through paging. I just spent 59 frustrating minutes on the phone trying to ensure I don’t lose a feature and in the end got nowhere. This tech support specialist didn’t even know the correct menu options for voicemail on the iPhone. Seriously? I am so disappointed lately with AT&T’s lack of interest holding on to long time customers and actually trying to figure things out and find solutions. I am now leaning towards a Verizon iPhone 4 with its known network limitations.

By: Ugh

Ugh — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:37:55 +0000

After being on hold and talking to 3 agents over 25 minutes I gave up. Does anyone have a successful case number?

By: Shiggity

Shiggity — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 01:13:58 +0000

I maintain that this process is very “adult” as it requires a lot of patience and diplomacy to accomplish what should be a simple request. What seemed to help me – although I’m not out of the woods yet – was to reference previous case numbers filed that concerned this issue. I’ll follow up after I make more progress in case anyone wants the details.

By: Chris Allen

Chris Allen — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:06:27 +0000

@Insider – My biggest reason for removing the prompts is that I use my iPhone for incoming business calls. When a caller hears the prompts, it’s obvious they’re calling a cell phone. I think a traditional voicemail sound, which has no prompts, is more professional.

My second biggest reason is that it’s just plain annoying. It’s 2010. Do we really need to be told to “begin speaking after the tone” and “when done, hang up?”

Thanks for clarifying the distinction between “voicemail team” and “provisioning team.” We’re operating completely in the dark when we talk to AT&T Tech Support, so we’re kind of at the mercy of whatever terminology that particular CSR is using at the time.

By: Insider

Insider — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:58:46 +0000

This is ridiculous. Of course it can be done, by someone on a provisioning team, but there is no such thing as a “voicemail team”. They are part of our switch technicians. There is no dedicated voicemail team. If you can get someone to file a ticket for you that’s great, however you could just be an adult about it and deal with the prompts, which are there for the caller who wants to leave additional information such as a callback number or expedited message preference. You are actually only hurting your callers by removing the voicemail prompts.